Sapphire Fire
by KiaLee
Summary: Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned. There's Tr/H and B/Tyr romance in it, as well as a little D/R. Please R&R, it's my first fanfic...
1. Prologue & Part I

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Prologue

The Nightsider surveyed the team before him.There were seven people aboard his ship: Himself, two other Nightsiders, a female Cyborg, and three Humans (a rather large light-skinned male, a compact but muscled dark-skinned female, and another female, though this one was different.)

The third human was a light-skinned, girl under the age of twenty.Her long brown hair hung midway down her back, and though it seemed to get in her way a great deal, she insisted on wearing it down.The long chocolate coloured strands were streaked with silver-white and electric-blue and seemed to glow even under the dim lights inside the ship.

Somehow this girl unnerved him, there was something not quite right about her.He felt as though her sapphire blue eyes were secretly watching his every move, but whenever he checked, she was always looking elsewhere, seemingly concentrating deeply on her work.She had barely said two words to him or anyone else since the day he had recruited her, and he was beginning to wonder if she had an ulterior motive for this trip.

Yes, this girl was going to be a problem…

End Prologue

Part I

Something was wrong.Trance could sense it, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't figure it out.

Everything had been fine for the last few days on the Andromeda, and everyone had been keeping busy with repairs from the battle they had recently found themselves in the middle of.

Trance just couldn't understand it, she was usually good at detecting things before they happened…

She was suddenly jerked away from her train of thought as she felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders.She jumped in shock and spun around, only to come face-to-face with Harper.He raised an eyebrow at her as she gasped for air, trying to recover the breath she had lost in shock.

"Are you okay Trance?" he asked, concerned with his friend's welfare."You've been really jumpy lately."

Trance rolled her eyes and smiled at him."That could be because you've been sneaking up on me a lot, silly." She said, before turning her attention back to the plant on the table.She had been studying it earlier, before her mind had begun to wander.

Harper smiled sheepishly and leaned in behind her, his chin almost resting on her shoulder, peering down at the plan before her.

"What's its name?" he asked in mock seriousness, trying to hide a smirk.Trance looked at him through the corner of her eye, catching his near-hidden smile.

"HIS name is Frederick, Harper, and he's not an IT." She said in the poor plant's defense.

Harper chuckled softly, and unconsciously leaned in closer behind her. It wasn't until his chest was touching her back and he could smell her hair that he realized just how close he really was to her, and began to get nervous.

Trance could feel him standing behind her, pressed up against her, and wondered if she should do anything about his close proximity.She knew that she couldn't get too close to him, emotionally.It just wasn't safe, for him or her.But every now and then, she'd find herself in a position like this, where she would give anything to have him hold her, stroke her hair while she told him everything…But it was just too risky…

Harper suddenly stepped away from her, as they heard the door slide open, breaking them both from their reverie.

Beka approached the two young crewmembers, not really paying attention, looking at the flexi in her hand.It wasn't until she was standing close to them that she realized they were there.

"There you guys are." She said, looking up from the flexi."Harper, Dylan wants you back on command deck, there's something wrong with the slipstream driver."

"You got it boss," he said, starting towards the door, before turning back for a second to look back at Trance and say, "see you later Trance," just before the doors slid shut behind him.

Beka looked Trance, and then at the closed doors that Harper had left through, then back at Trance again.

"What was that about?" she asked, eying the purple alien strangely.

Trance shrugged and turned back to her plant, smiling slightly.

"I have no idea…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harper sat on the floor in the small corridors between the walls, rewiring the driver for the umpteenth time, trying to get it just right.

He was still in a state of shock about what had just happened between him and Trance in the hydroponics garden.He couldn't get her out of his mind, and was at a loss as to why.

Okay, it was obvious.He cared about her, but just how much was still a mystery to him.SHE was a mystery to him.She was so quiet…secretive…beautiful…

_No, Harper, stop.He thought.He shouldn't think about Trance that way, she was his best friend, and she would never—could never be more._

_Why not?His mind asked, and he scolded himself, trying futilely to focus on his work._

_I don't even know anything about her, he thought, trying to rationalize the feelings he had for his sparkly purple friend.And it was true, he knew almost nothing about Trance, and he could tell she wanted to keep it that way.She was forever avoiding his questions, dancing around them in an effort to change the subject to anything that didn't involve her._

_It doesn't matter what you know about her, his mind said, __all that matters is what you feel for her, the way you feel when you're near her, the fact that you love her…_

Harper unconsciously let the wires he was working with slip through his fingers at that last thought, his breath catching in his throat.

_NO, he thought.__I can't be in love with her; she's my best friend.I mean, she's Trance, for God's sake.I can't__ be in love with her…_

_But you are, his mind said, forcing him to realize the truth.Harper groaned, flopping onto his back, lying on the floor.He rubbed his closed eyes with his fingertips._

_Life has just gotten a lot more interesting, he thought.__And complicated…_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dylan stood in the command deck, leaning against the railing as he stared out at the system they were currently passing through.

"Enjoying the view?"

He didn't turn, instantly recognizing the soft, comforting voice behind him.

"I've seen worse," he replied, smiling as Rommie came into view, leaning against the railing beside him.

She smiled back at him, and then turned her attention back to the view of stars and planets before them.

"It really is beautiful, isn't it?" she said softly, not expecting him to answer.

Just then, Rev's voice came on the ship's communications system."Um, Dylan, I think that you should get to the command deck.There's something I think you should see…"

This sounded serious."Be right there Rev," he said, turning away from the stars to look at Rommie.

"Let's go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The command deck doors slid open and Dylan entered, with Rommie in close pursuit behind him.

"What's the problem Rev?" he asked, approaching the Magog.

"We seemed to have stopped," he said, not looking up from the console where he was working.

Dylan's eyes narrowed on Rev, confused."What do you mean 'we seem to have stopped'?"

The Magog looked up, at the captain."Just that.We've stopped moving.We are no longer in motion."

He turned to Rommie."What's going on?Why have we stopped?"

The avatar shrugged her shoulders."I have no idea, I didn't even know we had stopped until just now."

A holographic image of Andromeda appeared beside Rommie, saying, "according to my sensors, we are still moving at your requested speed."

"On screen," Dylan said, walking towards the front of the ship.The holographic image nodded her head, and disappeared.Less than a second later, an image of the system came up and he realized that Rev had been correct, they were no longer moving.Dylan couldn't help but wonder why he didn't notice this fact when he been on the observation deck.

But he hadn't really been paying close attention to the stars.He had been thinking…

Over the last few months, his constant thoughts about a new Commonwealth had been mixed with tinges of sadness, of yearning.He had been missing Sara.But recently, the image of his heartache that had kept him up in the long hours had changed.The woman he longed for had, over time, become shorter, her fair complexion turned darker, her hair had darkened and shortened, and her eyes had gone from brown to near black.The image of Sara, the woman he had loved with all his heart, had changed into someone else.

Rommie…

"Dylan, are you alright?"

Rev's voice brought him out of his thoughts and back into the real world.There was no time to think about that right now.They had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

He turned to Rev, and started giving orders."Rev, get Beka and Tyr up here, we need to figure out what's going on."

"Rommie," he said, turning back to her, once again in control of his thoughts and emotions."Run a full systems check and try to figure out what's wrong.The last thing we need right now is for one of your systems to go offline."

But Rommie didn't seem to be responding.The dark brown eyes of her avatar seemed almost glazed-over, staring straight ahead.Dylan's eyes narrowed in concern.

"Rommie…Rommie?Are you alright?" he asked, stepping closer to her.But before he reached her, she started to sway a little un-easily, and suddenly collapsed to the ground before his very eyes.

"Rommie!" he yelled, finding himself almost instantly at her side, kneeling down over her lifeless form.Rev was close behind him, standing over the seemingly dead Rommie.

"Harper!" he yelled into the air around him, letting Andromeda's comm. System carry his voice throughout the ship."Harper, get down to the Command Deck right now!There's something wrong with Rommie."

To his surprise, the voice of the young engineer did not respond."Harper!" he barked again."HARPER!"

But there was still no response.Taking a deep breath, he looked back down at Rommie, his heart catching in his throat.Reaching out, he gently stroked Rommie's hair away from her face with a shaky hand.

"Come on Rommie," he whispered."Stay with me…"

Rev looked from the captain to Rommie lying on the floor, then back to Dylan, suddenly realizing the strength of emotions that Dylan had for Andromeda.He laid one clawed hand on Dylan's shoulder, in attempt to soothe the man.

"I shall go see if I can find Harper.I'm sure it's nothing, perhaps only a small glitch in the system.He should be able to fix whatever is wrong with Andromeda."

Dylan nodded, still gazing down at Rommie."Call Tyr and Beka as well, we need to figure out what's going on…" he said, repeating his earlier order almost in entirety.

Just then, the doors slid open behind them, and, so preoccupied with Rommie's condition, he paid it little notice until he heard the person who had entered begin to speak.

"I really don't think that those orders will be necessary, Captain.I already know exactly what's going on."

Dylan turned around to see the owner of the voice standing at the entrance to the command deck.The man stood there, surrounded by three others, each holding a weapon that was aimed at the unarmed captain.

Dylan's eyes narrowed at the man who held him at gunpoint.Through clenched teeth, he hissed the man's name…

"Gerentex…"

End Part I


	2. Part II

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part II

The last thing Harper remembered, he had been seated on the floor of the crawlspace, trying to repair Andromeda's slipstream driver.He remembered hearing someone walking up behind him, but as he turned his head to see who it was, the person had brought a rather hard object down on his head.Before he had been given the chance to even cry out for help, his vision had been taken over by large black spots, and he had passed out.

He was now lying on the ground in one of the unused crew quarters, his head pounding with pain.Blinking, he tried to clear his vision, which was still dancing with little black spots, making his headache even worse.

Harper pulled himself off the ground, into a sitting position, only to find someone pointing a laser gun at his face.

"Woah!" he yelled, trying to back away as quickly as he could, still in his sitting position."Um look, I don't know what I did to make you mad, okay?But whatever it was, I'm really, REALLY sorry."

The stocky human stood, towering above Harper, the gun taking direct aim at Harper's chest."I'd stop moving if I were you.You wouldn't want me to think that you were trying to escape, now would you?" the man asked, obviously enjoying being able to toy with Harper's fear.

Midway through the man's little speech, the door to the room slid open, and someone entered.Harper wasn't able to see the new person, since his back was facing the door, but if the guy in front of him was any indication, he wasn't sure he wanted to anyone else.

"I don't think you want to do that, Talen.The boss said that we might need this one."The voice said, and Harper's head instantly turned towards the owner.It was a girl!

The man, Talen, Harper assumed, didn't even flinch, his eyes never leaving their target, the center of Harper's chest.His finger almost seemed to tighten on the trigger as the girl walked closer.

Even in the dim light, Harper could make out what she looked like.She was human, and a beautiful one, as if that counted for anything, and had light skin and long brown hair that was streaked with blue and white.She wasn't very tall, probably shorter than Harper himself, and seemed younger, maybe 20 years old, 22 tops.

His observations of the girl were interrupted by the girl's voice, addressing the man who held Harper at gunpoint once again.

"God, Talen.If you're that trigger-happy, go kill some 'droids.Gerentex doesn't want any of them wandering around the ship, as if they'll do any good."

That statement made Talen look away from Harper for a moment, his eyes darting quickly to the girl, then back to the engineer seated on the floor.

"What about this one?" he asked, his voice so rough and grating that it almost make Harper cringe.

"I'll watch him, he won't get away.Besides," she said, leaning against the desk, facing Talen, "the Nietzchean's still missing.The last thing we need right now is him wandering around the ship.

Talen gave a quick nod, and, lowering his gun, turned and left the room.

The young woman smiled as she leaned against the wall, turning her attention to the young engineer.Harper began to study the girl who stood before him yet again, not really out of interest, but to size her up, wondering if he could take her in his wounded state.

The girl just stared right back at him, her sapphire eyes focused on his face.

His headache fading for a moment he thought, _if she's not armed, I could probably take her.If I can get out of here, I can try to find the others…_

_ _

Then the name the girl had mentioned before finally clicked and his eyes visibly widened…

_Gerentex… he was back…_

_ _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I really don't see why this is necessary…" Beka muttered as the dark-skinned woman pressed the end of the gun, almost painfully hard, into her back, holding her by the collar of her shirt.

"Shut up!" the Nightsider growled from beside her, as he held Trance in a similar position, marching her forcefully down the corridor.With that, the woman holding Beka made an abrupt turn and shoved the blond woman through an open doorway, into one of the unused crew quarters.

Before Beka even had a chance to gain her bearings, Trance's body collided with hers, and the two women went tumbling to the floor.

Looking up from their position on the cold metal floor, they saw their hostages on the other side of the archway, and with an almost lightning-quick movement, the woman reached out and hit the controls beside the doorway.Before either Beka or Trance had a chance to realize what was happening, let alone react, the door slid shut with a loud hiss, and there was a soft clicking sound that followed almost immediately.

Trance looked at Beka and voiced the only reason behind the noise.

"They locked us in… we're trapped…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What did you do to Rommie?" Dylan hissed through clenched teeth.Gerentex only continued to grin.

"I myself did nothing to her, captain.But my new engineer, on the other hand did.She made a few adjustments to this marvelous ship of yours…or should I say…mine…"

"And just what kind of 'adjustments' would those be?" he asked, barely able to control his anger towards the rat-faced man who stood before him.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that your little 'Rommie', as charming as she was, doesn't exist any more."

Dylan's eyes narrowed."What are you talking about?" he growled.

"Just as I said.She no longer exists.My new engineer, darling girl, took the time to remove a rather large liability from my plan.She deleted Andromeda's personality from her internal network.It was a wonderful idea, really.I couldn't exactly reclaim this ship if Andromeda's personality was as adamant as last time in preventing me, now could I?"

Dylan's jaw dropped._It's not possible, he thought__.No one has the ability to do that; most of the original engineers of warships couldn't even delete a personality once it had been implanted in the ship's network.It just isn't possible…_

"You're lying," he hissed."You can't delete Rommie's personality.You just don't have the ability."

Gerentex grinned evilly."Quite right, captain._I don't have the ability, but my engineer __does.Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to take a seat at the helm of my new ship," and with that, he brushed passed Dylan and Rev, and sat in the helm, getting a feel for the controls._

Unable to move, as he was still held at gunpoint by Gerentex's crew, he looked at the fur-covered man who held the controls to _his ship._

"I won't let you take my ship without a fight, Gerentex," he said, dark fire burning in his eyes as he glared at the man."That I promise you."

Gerentex turned the seat around so that he faced Dylan.

"You don't seem to understand captain.There will be no fight.You've already lost."The rat-faced man looked from Captain Hunt, to his guards, and gave a small nod.

All of a sudden, Dylan felt pain running though his body like liquid fire, and he collapsed to the floor, and just before everything went black, he saw Gerentex's face appeared in his vision.The Nightsider grinned with triumph, and Dylan's vision was quickly shaded with black.

He lost consciousness seconds after his vision went black, just in time to hear the Nightsider speak once more.

"You've already lost, Captain.That I promise _you."_

End Part II


	3. Part III

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part III

Tyr Anasazi sat in one of the many venting shafts in the Andromeda's walls, biding his time.He sat on the ship's cold, hard metal flooring, carefully planning out his actions in his head as the methodically loaded his gun.

He could hear the intruders walking through the halls on the other side of Andromeda's walls, but he made sure they couldn't hear him.

_Damn that Gerentex,_ he thought._Count on that rat-faced bastard to try to try to continue a battle that he had already lost long ago._

_ _

From the sounds of things, Gerentex's crew had already captured the others, leaving the fate of the Andromeda in his own two hands.

_ _

_This just figures,_ he thought, loading the final cartridge into his weapon.Hearing the movement on the other side of the wall cease, he pulled himself from the floor and began to put his plan into action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hallway was empty as Tyr entered it.He moved almost silently down the corridor, weapon in hand.He heard soft footsteps coming from just around the corner. 

Just as the unsuspecting intruder turned the corner, Tyr's arm shot out, grabbing the thin Nightsider in his grasp.Before the Nightsider had a chance to even realize what was happening, let alone to defend himself, Tyr pulled the trigger on his gun.Releasing his grip on the man's neck, the Nightsider crumpled to the ground.

Tyr stared down at the body that lay at his feet, and then kicked it out of his way, almost carelessly, with his boot.

If the intruders were frequenting this part of the ship, then it only made sense that Beka and the others would be close by.

His mind instantly shifted from the man on the floor to his fair-haired shipmate.

_Beka..._ he thought_.If they had harmed her in any way I'll... I'll... do what?_

He always tried to keep a front on his emotions, never showing how he truly felt about her, but it was becoming more and more difficult.He didn't want to care about her.He was a Nietzchean, a superior being that had denounced the existence of love, especially when that denied feeling was towards a human... an inferior being.

And Beka was human and was therefore inferior... and yet... not.He had to admit that she was strong, she had outsmarted him many times, and she lived her life like a Nietzchean, constantly doing everything possible to ensure her survival.He had the utmost respect for her for that.

There had been one night once that he had felt so close to her that he could almost feel the energy radiating from her.He'd made her dinner, complete with decoration and candlelight, and she had dressed up for the event, looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her, and that was saying something.

She was the most beautiful human woman he had ever known, even more beautiful than a Nietzchean woman, who, in his opinion, was the most beautiful creatures in the entire universe.

And yet Beka surpassed them all, and he was forever in awe of the amazing human woman who had captured his soul...

Just then, a sudden banging noise echoed through the hall and dragged Tyr from his reverie with a start.Seconds later, another bang sounded, followed by a soft curse, and Tyr's head turned, ears listening for its source. 

A loud clanging of metal came from somewhere down the hall that the Nightsider had come, only much further down...

He now had a new target; he only had to wait...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiden sat in the hallway of the Andromeda, laying on her back, the upper half of her body wedged inside one of the open panels, trying to rewire the internal systems of the ship.Groaning, she pulled another small panel away from the wires and threw it out the opening where the rest of her body lay.

The metal made a loud clang as it struck the floor, and Aiden looked up at the new set of wires before her.Reaching a hand upward, she gently traced the patterns of the wires with her small fingers, trying to remember what each set did.Pulling her hand away, she carefully brushed her long hair away from her face, the long brown and blue strands tangling together wildly.

Small streaks of grease marred her pale face; her sapphire eyes fixed on the uncountable number of wires as they connected in the dim light.

_I should remember how to do this,_ she thought, groaning._I've been rewiring these things since before I could walk; I should be able to rewire the ship's flight systems._

Taking a deep breath, she reached up and pulled another panel away from the internal flight systems relay drive, revealing another batch of wires.

"Bingo," she whispered, pulling the metal panel down and through the hole, tossing it towards the floor with the others.

It took only seconds for the lack of noise to register in Aiden's mind, and a sudden spark of panic ran through her body like lightning.

Slowly, carefully, she pulled her body forward, out of the hole in the bottom of the wall, her eyes slowly adjusting to the bright light that she had not seen for several hours.

As her eyes cleared, she was able to make out a figure standing over her body.Her vision sharpened and she was finally able to make out just who the figure was.

It was the Nietzchean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tyr stood over the young woman; his gun pointed straight at her, dropping the metal panel to the ground. 

"I will have to ask you to leave that alone," he growled at her, priming the gun.

The girl's eyes darted from his face, to the gun, then back to Tyr's face again, their sapphire depths nervous, almost panicked. 

"Get away from the control panel." He said, just in case the girl didn't understand what he had already said to her.

The girl pushed her long hair away from her face, and he noticed that her face was streaked with black grease, and despite the fact that he held her at gunpoint; she had a strange sense of confidence about her.

"Um... alright..." she said, pulling herself away from the panel and pushing herself to her feet in front of him.

Tyr reached out and grabbed her arm, bending it backward behind her back, pressing the nozzle of the gun to the base of her neck.

"Let go of me..." she hissed, though she didn't struggle in his grasp.

"Not likely." He said in return, but before he had a chance to say anything else, she shocked him by slipping out of his grip, and punched him across the jaw.

He stood there in shock for a second, and that was all it took.Before he even had a chance to think, she knocked the gun from his hand and pushed him back, making him lose his footing.

The girl backed up, stepping away from him quickly, before she turned and began to run.Instantly Tyr was on her, grabbing her around the middle, and stopping her movement.

She managed to escape his grasp once again, and shoved him away.He recovered quickly and, losing his patience brought his hand up to strike her. She blocked his punch and sent back one of her own, knocking him back, only to have him bounce back at her.

They continued like this for several moments, shocking Tyr as she managed to block every single one of his blows, sending his force back at him with hits of her own.

If he hadn't been so busy fighting her, he would have taken the time to be amazed at her skill.It was as if he had been training with her for years.She seemed to know his every move before he had a chance to even try it himself.

She finally managed to knock him back so hard that he fell, landing on his back on the hard metal floor.

Panting, her right hand traveled to the belt at her waist and pulled something from one of the holsters.As she neared him, he was able to recognize what she held in her hand, and he was shocked at what he saw.

It was a high-guard force lance.

She looked at him, something akin to sadness shining in the sapphire depths of her eyes, and proceeded to point the force lance at him.

"Sorry Tyr," she whispered, her voice so soft he could barely hear her."I can't have you messing with my plan."

With that, a small bolt of energy shot from the force lance and hit Tyr in the chest.The last coherent thought that passed through his mind was; _how did she know my name?_

End Part III


	4. Part IV

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part IV

"Are you okay Trance?" Beka asked as her purple friend curled up in the corner of the room, her tail lying limp beside her.The girl lifted her head and rested her chin on her crossed arms, looking up at the blonde with big, glassy eyes.

Sniffing softly, she whispered, "not really…"

Beka looked at her friend, concerned, and went to kneel down next to her."What's the matter Trance?" she asked, reaching out and stroking the girl's hair gently.

Trance sniffed again, a small tear running down her cheek.The girl reached up with a shaky purple hand and wiped it away.

"Aww… sweetie… are you all right?" she asked softly, putting her arm around the younger girl's shoulders.

Trance rested her head on the blonde's shoulder, letting her tears fall.

"I'm worried about Har—about everyone…" she whispered, hoping Beka didn't catch her slip-up.

But she did.I know you're worried about him.He's probably really worried about you too, Trance.But it's Harper; you don't have to worry about him.As much as I hate to admit it, he _does know what he's doing."_

Trance sniffed again and Beka wiped away the tears that marred her soft purple face.Trance nodded her head. 

"You're right, he's probably fine.But I'm still worried about him."

Beka nodded knowingly and smiled down at the girl resting beside her."Of course you are," she said, continuing to stroke the girl's hair."You're in love with him, you can't help but be concerned for his welfare."

Trance gave a small whimper and curled up closer to Beka, closing her eyes.

_Poor girl, she thought.__But I do know where you're coming from, for once.I'm just a little better at hiding it…_

But it was getting harder and harder for Beka to hide her feelings.At this rate she was just lucky that she wasn't as obvious as Trance was.Whenever the purple girl and the young engineer were even remotely close to each other, you could almost see the sparks of emotion passing between the two.

_ _

_I just hope I'm not that obvious… she thought almost bitterly.She hated not being in control of her emotions, and hated him affecting her like this._

She hated him, but she loved him anyway.No one had ever been able to affect her like he could, and did.

And at least Trance's feelings for Harper were returned; you'd have to be blind if you were unable to see how much he adored the purple alien.

But her feelings, on the other hand, did not seem to be returned in the least.Where Harper held Trance on a high pedestal, Tyr treated her as though she was below him, like some insignificant creature that he would only put up with for as long as was necessary.

Tyr… sometimes she just couldn't get him out of her mind.

She wanted him so badly sometimes, but she knew that those feelings were not returned, he had made that very clear that one night at dinner, when he'd said that he'd never seen the point in mating with another species, especially a human.She'd been emotionally wounded, and unable to do anything but fire some verbal barb at him, and leave.

Beka sighed, continuing to stroke Trance's hair._I just hope that everyone we care about is safe.I just hope that they're all safe…_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Tyr, you in there man?"

Tyr groaned softly, opening his eyes to the harsh light overhead.Blinking, he was slowly able to make out the young engineer's face.

"Ah, so you're still alive.Good.Though I don't like to admit it, this may actually be a good thing."

"What happened?" he groaned, pulling himself into a sitting position.

"Well, about four hours ago, the doors to this room slid open and you came tumbling in, unconscious," he said, trying to hide his trademark smirk."Then the girl, who must be one-half—no… one-_third_ your size told me to tell you that she's _sorry_, then she locked the door again."

"Now,' he continued."My question is… what is she sorry _for_?"

Tyr rubbed his hands over his face, trying to clear his head.

"She was the one who knocked me out." Tyr mumbled, not wanting to admit it to himself, much less anybody else.

"You're kidding, right?" Harper asked, almost dumbfounded by what Tyr had just told him."That just isn't possible, is it?"

"I don't know if it's possible, but it happened."

Harper was instantly at his feet, pacing around the room, his boots clanking against the metal flooring.

"This is insane.I mean… Gerentex suddenly shows up with a new crew, and is suddenly able to take over the Andromeda.This isn't possible.And that girl… she beat you up, and that's physically impossible, I mean, she's smaller than me… there is no possible way this is happening…"

"Would you shut up? I'm trying to think!" Tyr yelled at Harper.He lifted his head and glared at the young man, anger blazing in his dark eyes.

"Oh…kay…" he mumbled, staring down at the floor.

"What is happening that we know for certain?"Tyr asked.

Harper's eyes darted from the floor, to Tyr."Well, um, as far as I know they've captured the rest of the crew, and they must have done something to Andromeda's internal system because otherwise they wouldn't gave been able to take over the ship."

Tyr nodded."They did do something.I saw the girl tinkering with one of the ship's main control panels."

Harper grinned."Was this before or after she wiped the floor with you.I mean, whatever happened to the Nietzchean approach 'Never fight a battle unless you are sure you'll win' huh?"

Tyr glared at him, the fire burning deeper in his dark eyes than Harper had ever seen.

"I knew I could beat her, Harper.I just happened to know an untrue piece of information."

Harper suddenly paled, his blue eyes clouding over slightly.

"Harper?" Tyr asked, his eyes narrowing on the young man's shocked face.

"Trance…" he whispered.Harper's wide blue eyes met Tyr's, his face almost entirely white.

"Gerentex doesn't know Trance is alive…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE GIRL'S ALIVE?" Gerentex yelled at Talen.

The large man looked down at his employer, unphased."Just as I said, the purple girl you told us about isn't dead.She's in one of the crew quarters on deck nineteen with the blonde."

Gerentex turned to Dylan, anger burning in his heartless eyes."How is this possible?" he hissed.

Dylan stared him down."I won't even pretend like I know the answer to that.But she is."

Gerentex hissed at the captain and turned to Talen and his other crew.

"Get them down here," he snapped.

"This ends now."

End Part IV


	5. Part V

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part V

"Hey watch it babe!" Harper yelled at the dark-skinned woman that held him at gunpoint."Don't damage the merchandise…"

This only prompted the woman to press the end of the gun further into his back and hiss, "shut up" in his ear.

Tyr and Talen were walking about fifteen paces behind of him, Tyr also being held at gunpoint.

The door to the command deck slid open in front of Harper and he was shoved inside.The instant he was inside, he caught sight of the most beautiful thing he had seen in what seemed to be a very long time.

"Trance…" he murmured, his eyes dancing over her form."Trance!"

The purple girl's head shot up, eyes darting to the owner of the voice.Her heart caught in her throat.

"Harper!" she yelled, trying to pull herself away from the Nightsider that held her captive.She struggled against his grip but was unable to free herself.

"Hey, let her go!" Harper yelled at the Nightsider, pulling away from the woman that held him at gunpoint and running towards Trance.

Harper pushed the Nightsider off of Trance, sending the furry creature sliding across the floor.

No longer caring about anything else but the girl that stood before him, Harper leaned closer and cupped her face in his two hands, gently brushing her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, his heart aching from the sight of her.Trance bit her bottom lip, her eyes meeting his.She nodded, tears of relief threatening to spill down her cheeks.

Harper saw her eyes go glassy, a single tear escaping her eye, and pulled her into his arms.He buried his face in her hair, losing himself in her warmth.

"Shh…" he whispered, his hands rubbing up and down her back."It's alright…"

Trance just whimpered softly, burying her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around his mid-section.

"Shh…"

"Well isn't this sweet…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well isn't this sweet…" Gerentex hissed, grinning evilly at the group of people that stood before him.

Trance and Harper were still wrapped up in each other's arms, Rommie lay unmoving on the floor, her head resting in Rev's lap, Tyr stood close to Beka, his stance protective of her, and Dylan stood in the front, glaring menacingly at Gerentex.

"Sadly my plans didn't go as well as I'd imagined the last time we met, but this experience more than makes up for that.The Andromeda Ascendant now belongs to me, Captain Hunt."

Dylan seethed with anger."You'll take my ship over my dead body," he growled.

Gerentex continued to grin."That's the plan," he said, pulling a gun from the folds of his clothes."You people didn't actually think that I'd leave you alive to come after me, did you?No, I won't repeat your mistakes."

He moved the gun, pointing it back and forth between the crew in front of him, until he finally settled on Trance.

"I think that I'll start with you girl." He said, priming the gun to shoot."I obviously didn't do a good enough job the first time, so I'll be sure to get it right now…"

Trance felt Harper's arms tighten around her, and she closed her eyes, preparing for the blow that would come.She whimpered softly, and felt Harper lean close to her ear.His voice was so soft that she was sure that only she could hear his whisper…

"I love you…"

With that, Harper yanked Trance behind him just as a single shot echoed through the command deck.

The wounded man gave a soft moan and there was a soft thud as his body hit the ground. 

Then…silence…

End Part V


	6. Part VI

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part VI

With that, Harper yanked Trance behind him just as a single shot echoed through the command deck.

The wounded man gave a soft moan and there was a soft thud as his body hit the ground. 

Then…silence…

Harper and Trance both opened their eyes slowly, as if not believeing that they still stood, and looked at the scene around them in amazement.The entire group's focus rested solely the man who had just been shot.

There, on the cold hard floor, lay Gerentex, writhing in pain.

"You back-stabbing little bitch!" he hissed."How dare you betray me?"

There, in the archway of the command deck stood Aiden, her long hair hanging slightly tousled around her face, her bright sapphire eyes shining.In her hand was the High-Guard force lance that she had used on Tyr, and it was pointing directly at Gerentex.

Gerentex's employees were across the room and after her in a second.

She turned back just before she began running and yelled at the Andromeda's crew, pulling a gun from her belt and throwing it at them.

"Heads up!" she yelled, sending the weapon flying across the air and into Dylan's waiting hands.

They all gaped at the girl in astonishment for a second, but Dylan shook it off and got their attention.

"Harper, Trance, Rev… you three stay here and keep an eye on Gerentex.Beka, Tyr, you come with me.I'm reclaiming my ship…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Aiden raced down the halls of the ship, knowing the corridors like the back of her hand, dodging the shots Gerentex's crew fired at her.

She had knocked out the other two Nightsiders and the dark-skinned female not fifty feet from the entrance to the command deck, and now the only ones who remained were Talen and the cyborg woman.

She turned yet another corner, and stopped running for a moment.She leaned over, panting, completely winded.Her grip tightened on her force lance, and she felt it deploy itself, almost as if it had a life of its own.

Aiden managed to catch her breath, and looked up just in time to see the cyborg turn the corner, gun pointed straight at her.Unable to duck in time, she felt a sudden burning pain scorch her side.

Barely able as the white-hot pain shot through her body, she barely managed to lift the force lance and point it at her attacker.

Three small bolts of blue energy shot out from the end, and the woman was knocked back, slamming against the opposite wall.

It took a second, but Aiden was soon in control of her body once more, and she pulled herself away from the wall, gripping the force lance in her right hand, knuckles straining white from her grip.

With a sweeping movement, she knocked the cyborg's legs out from under her with the end of the force lance, and her attacker's head slammed against the hard metal wall, rendering the woman unconscious.

Gasping for breath once again, Aiden used leaned against the staff to steady herself.Perspiration ran down the girl's forehead, running in little paths down her pale face.Her head was throbbing, and she could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears.Dark patches began to cloud her vision as she struggled to stay conscious.

In her sheer exhaustion, she hadn't noticed Talen approach her until she heard him prime his weapon to fire…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She, Dylan, and Tyr had split up in an effort to search for the girl, and Beka was now running down the long corridor alone.

She came to an abrupt halt as she caught sight of the large man standing before her, facing away.

As she quietly neared him, she could see the girl standing in front of him, gripping her force lance in an effort to remain standing.

"Don't do this, Talen," the girl said softly."You've already lost, don't make the situation worse…"

But the girl's reasoning did nothing to deter the man from his objective, and his finger tightened around the trigger.

"Sorry Aiden," he said, thought his voice lacked anything even related to pity."You brought this upon yourself…"

The girl looked past Talen and saw Beka approaching behind the man.Beka brought a finger to her lips, motioning for the girl to be silent, and the girl's eyes went right back to Talen.

"Sorry Talen," she said, repeating his earlier speech to her."But you brought this upon yourself…"

The large man barely even had a chance for the look of confusion to spread across his face before Beka pulled out her own force lance and sent a bolt of energy into the man's back. 

Talen crumpled to the floor, his weapon hitting the hard surface with a _clang_.Beka stepped closer and kicked the gun from his hand, sending it sliding down the hall.

Beka's eyes met the girl's.Aiden gave a small smile, immense gratitude radiating from her deep blue eyes.

"Thanks Beka," she whispered just before the grip she had on her force lance loosened.

Without the staff to support her, the girl's legs gave out beneath her and she crumpled to the ground.

End Part VI


	7. Part VII

Author's Note:Well, this chapter is way longer than i indended it to be, so it may be a while before i get the next chapter out.I'm not even close to done this story... much more will happen between the crew of the Andromeda and Aiden (and yes, i will be explaining who she is... soon) as a matter of fact, if you can't figure out (at least a little) about who she is after this chapter... well, i pity you...

So, anyway, please review.I live to hear what you think of my writing.This is the first fanfic i've ever written, and without your reviews, i may lose confidence in myself and stop writing (my best friend says i have a real problem with getting her all excited about my stories, then never finishing them, and she yells at me constantly for this little habit.)So, anyway... just review (good, bad, ugly... whatever)

Well, enjoy Chapter 7....

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part VII

The entire crew stood on the Medical deck, waiting for the girl's condition to change.

Aiden had been out for almost four days, longer than Gerentex had even been in control of the ship, and was slowly getting worse.Once they had retaken control of the ship, they had put Rommie's humanoid body into one of the cryostasis chambers, refusing to give up hope that they would be able to revive her.But the girl was a different story all together.

When Beka and Tyr had brought her to the Med deck, she had been unconscious and she'd had a large burn mark on the left side of her body from the cyborg's gunshot.

Since then she had taken a turn for the worse.She had progressed into a full coma during the first day, most likely due to the blow she sustained to the head when she collapsed to the floor, and her heartbeat and brain activity since then had been very faint and irregular.Her condition was so unstable that it made cryostasis impossible to be used for her recovery, and without the ship's persona to help them; all they could was watch and wait…

Then, on the second day of the girl's coma, they had made a shocking discovery.

Rev had been standing by Aiden, praying for her safety, when she had whimpered softly, in pain.He'd reached out, brushing her long hair away from her face when he'd noticed it.

Just under her left ear, there was a silver-coloured neuro-port imbedded in her neck, but it wasn't that fact that shocked him.It was the ear above it.

Instead of curving at the top, it swept upwards, tapering to a soft point…

"Trance!" he yelled.

The purple girl looked up from her charts."Yes Rev?" she asked, putting them down and stepping closer to him.

He reached out one clawed hand and pointed to the girl's head.

"Look at that… she—she's not human, at least not entirely…" he trailed off, no longer sure what to say.

Trance nodded, reaching out to stroke the girl's hair. 

"Maybe you should go now, Rev. She needs her rest." Trance said.It wasn't a request, and the Wayist knew it.He bowed his head slightly and left the room, letting the door slide shut behind him.

Trance turned her gaze back to the girl lying on the examination table.She continued to stroke the girl's hair back almost affectionately.

Trance sighed, for once in her life not knowing the outcome of these events, and whispered to the unmoving form before her; "Who are you?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harper walked into the infirmary on the girl's fourth day and approached Trance from behind.The purple girl stood over Aiden, checking her vitals for the umpteenth time that day, with no consolation.

Harper walked up behind her and placed a hand on her bare shoulder."How's she doing?" he asked softly, though, after taking one look at the girl on the bed, he already knew the answer.

Trance turned to him, tears glistening in her big brown eyes.

"She's dying… and I can't do anything to save her… not with Rommie offline…" her lower lip quivered as she spoke, and Harper's heart ached to see her like this.

He sighed and wrapped his arms around her middle, lending her his strength.

"She saved us and I can't even help her…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerentex sat in a cell, locked away from the crew.Talen was locked in the cell to his right, the two women were in a cell on the other side of Talen, and the other two Nightsiders were in the cell to Gerentex's left.

Tyr stood guard, barely paying attention to the people in the cells; completely absorbed in the novel he had started reading before the attack, which he was now attempting to complete.

"You know that she is going to double-cross all of you, don't you?" Gerentex hissed at his captor.

Tyr didn't even look up from his book."Why do you say that?" he asked, turning the page.

Gerentex grinned, glad that he had finally gotten Tyr's attention.

"Do you really think that a girl with that much power just decided to save your life out of the good of her heart?Come now Anasazi, I had thought you were smarter than that…"

Tyr set down his book, leaning forward in his chair.

"I think you've got it all wrong," he told Gerentex.

"I think that she just realized that she had a better chance of survival if she worked _against_ you rather than _with_ you."

Gerentex just gave an evil grin.

"And just look where thinking like that has gotten her…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dylan was more worried now than he had ever been in his entire life.

The girl lay dying in the med deck, and they were unable to help her without Rommie… and they would never be able to get Rommie back without the girl's help.

He sighed.He didn't even know if the girl would help them fix Rommie when…_if_ she woke up, or if she was even capable of it.

Without Rommie, the ship wouldn't work properly, especially when they were over a thousand people short of qualifying for a true High Guard crew.And without the ship, all hopes of restoring the Commonwealth would die… never to be remembered again…

And Rommie… if the girl didn't fix her personality information… well, he would permanently lose another loved one…

He stood up, and began to make his way to the Med. deck.

He wasn't going to give up his dreams without a fight…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Dylan entered the Med. deck, he found Trance and Harper already there, wrapped up in each other's arms, Harper seemingly soothing the young purple girl.

_At least they're finally admitting their feelings to each other, even if they aren't really saying it…_ he thought.

"How's our patient?" he asked, stepping closer to the girl who rested on the observation table.

Trance looked up from her place in Harper's arms, not at all embarrassed to be caught like this, though the young engineer seemed a little uneasy, but held her close anyway.

"Not good… unless a miracle happens, I'm afraid we're going to lose her…"

"That would be a shame," said a voice from the doorway.The trio turned and saw Tyr standing there.

"She was genetically superior, it would be a shame not to have her contribution in the gene pool."

Harper looked up from Trance and glared at the Nietzchean."Is that all you think about?" he asked, disgusted.

"Harper," Trance whispered."Don't… it's just his way of saying he feels the same way we do…"

Tyr gave a curt nod, and approached the unconscious girl, stroking her hair away from her ears, checking their appearance for himself.

"Did you ever find out what she is?" he asked

Trance shook her head."All the tests I ran on her said that her DNA was mostly human, but that there was something else…" she trailed off.

Harper looked at the girl in his arms, concerned."What is it Trance?" he whispered, ducking his head closer to hers.

"I don't know," she whispered, confused. " I just don't know…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rev had just relieved Beka from guard duty, and she was making her way to the Med. deck.

She was so worried about the girl that she was barely watching where she was going, and slammed right into Tyr as she turned a corner.

Her heart caught in her throat, and began to beat faster.Beka stood there, praying he didn't notice her obvious reaction to him, and mumbled, "Sorry Tyr, I wasn't watching where I was going."

Tyr nodded, looking more understanding than she'd ever seen him."That's understandable," he said."Everyone is worried about the girl."

Beka looked up at the large man quizzically."Even you?" she asked, and then almost wished she hadn't.

But he surprised her again, and nodded his head."Even me.She risked her life to ensure our survival.For that, I'm eternally grateful."

Beka raised her eyebrows at him."I thought you said that it was stupid to willingly risk your life just to save someone else's."

Tyr stared down at her, his dark eyes burning with an emotion that she couldn't identify.

"I don't think it was willingly," he said."She's an amazing fighter with a great survival instinct.I think that she was just caught off guard…"

Beka smiled."Are we still talking about the girl, or are we talking about you now?"

Tyr let out a short guffaw at that."I take it the little professor told you about my run-in with the girl."

Beka continued to grin."I think his exact phrase was 'wiped the floor with him,'" she said.

Tyr let out a deep laugh, a sound that Beka hadn't really ever heard before.And she liked it…

"Big bad Tyr, beaten by a little human girl…" she shook her head in mock disgrace."Tsk, tsk, tsk."

His laughter slowly died down, and his eyes focused on her face again.She took a deep breath, knowing that no one had ever affected her emotions like this by just looking at her…

"As it turns out, the girl's not completely human." He said."As far as Trance can tell with the tests she's been able to perform on the girl, she seems to be some sort of half-breed.A cross between human and God-knows-what."

Beka met his gaze again, a single thought suddenly traveling through her mind.

"Does this change your views on inter-species breeding?" she asked softly, her voice straining with barely-suppressed emotion.

He tilted his head, staring deeper into her eyes."Perhaps."

He reached out one large hand, tucking a lock of Beka's hair behind her ear, gazing at her.He leaned closer to her and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, before leaning his against hers.

"Perhaps there is hope for us after all…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dylan and Rev stood in the Med. deck, watching the girl as Trance continued Aiden's vitals, which had gotten marginally better over the last two days.

The girl had been in a coma for the past six days now, with little sign of improvement.

"I still don't understand how she managed to get a hold of a High Guard force lance," Dylan said, rubbing his temples with his fingers, trying futilely to relieve some of his tension."The Commonwealth has been dead for over three-hundred years.The chance of a girl like her being able to find one of our weapons is almost none…"

Rev shrugged."Perhaps Gerentex stole one when he was first on the ship, and gave it to her to use."

Dylan shook his head."Did you see the look on his face when she shot him.I don't think he even knew she had one, let alone knew how to use one.Hell, I don't think _he_ even knew how to use one…"

Rev searched for an answer to give the Captain."Well perhaps he did steal one, and perhaps she stole it from him.That could be why he was so surprised that she'd had it."He said, putting one clawed hand on Dylan's shoulder.

"In any case, no matter how she got a hold of one, no matter how she knew how to use it, I just think we should be grateful.If she hadn't had the weapon, or known how to use it properly, we'd all be dead and the ship would be in Gerentex's possession."

A soft whimper caught the attention of the two men, and they looked up at Trance.

The young purple alien stood over the observation table, stroking the young girl's hair softly.

The whimper sounded through the room again, and the two men were instantly at their feet, standing on either side of Trance.

The girl's head moved to the side, turning towards them, and they were able to see her eyes move beneath her eyelids.

The girl made a soft, high-pitched noise, then calmed, as if settling down to sleep after a nightmare.

The men looked at the girl, then at Trance, who had ceased moving all together.Rev stared at Trance, concerned.

"Did that sound mean anything to you, Trance?" the Wayist asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She stood completely still for a moment, then managed to force herself no nod her head.

"What did she say?"

Trance looked shocked, staring down at the girl before her, unmoving.Her big brown eyes were wider than either man had ever seen them before, and her mouth was hanging slightly open.

"Trance," Rev tried again."Did you understand what the girl said?"

Trance nodded again, uneasily, as if she didn't quite believe it herself.It took everything in her to translate the simple word for her friends, as she stood there in astonishment.

"Mother…"

End Part VII


	8. Part VIII

Title: Sapphire Fire

Title: Sapphire Fire

Author: Kia Lee, (trance_harper@yahoo.com)

Rating: PG-13 (a little bit of swearing and violence, but not too much )

Summary:Gerentex returns to reap his revenge on the crew of the Andromeda, but things don't go exactly as planned.

Disclaimer:I don't own Andromeda, those characters belong to Gene Roddenberry.But Aiden, Talen, Gerentex's new crew (though they are nameless), and others who are not on the show (and never will be) are my own creation, so if you wanna use them, just ask!

Feedback:Oh please... oh please, oh please, please, please...

Part VIII

The girl slept for another three days straight, and it wasn't until late the ninth day that she awoke again.

When Aiden finally opened her eyes for the first time in over a week, the first sight she saw was Trance sitting on the side of the bed, staring down at her.

Turning her head slightly, Aiden saw that the rest of the crew stood nearby, staring expectantly at her.

"Hey," she whispered, letting her eyes get used to the bright light above her.

She slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position, cringing as pain shot across her side."Oh yeah, that hurts," she hissed through clenched teeth.

She felt Trance's hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" the purple girl asked softly.

Aiden nodded, closing her eyes, trying to overcome the pain."I'll be fine."She opened her eyes and looked from Trance to the other crewmembers, then back to Trance.

"I guess I have some explaining to do…"

The entire group seemed to nod in unison.

"Um, I don't really know how to tell you guys this, and I know you probably won't believe me but…" she looked at Trance, her sapphire eyes almost begging for support from the purple girl.

"Perhaps it would be better if you just told us, child," Rev Bem said, his voice soothing from the other side of the room.

Aiden nodded, her long hair falling in front of her face, which she tucked behind her pointed ears.

"Um, I'm …well, I'm Trance and Harper's daughter…" she trailed off, staring down at the floor, unwilling to meet their eyes.

The entire group stared at her, unable to find words to respond.

It was well over a minute later that Aiden looked up them; her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Trance put her arm around the quivering girl, lending her support.

Dylan stared at the two young women.

"Trance," he said quietly, "you don't actually believe that this girl could be your daughter… do you?"

Trance met Aiden's eyes with her own and nodded.

"There's no other explanation," Trance said. "When she was in the coma, she said the word 'mother' in my language.Generally, only my people can use my language properly, it has something to do with the way our vocal cords are designed or something.No other species seems to have the ability to reproduce the sounds we can make.Even when Harper knew my language, he was only able to copy what he thought the words sounded like… she said it with the accent that only my people have…"

Harper just stared at the two girls in front of him.Aiden looked up at him, and bit her lip nervously.

"Say something," she whispered to him.

A grin slowly broke out on his face."Tell me what stocks are gonna skyrocket."

Everyone turned to stare at him.He looked at them and shrugged.

"What? She's obviously from the future.If I'm gonna be a dad, I'm gonna want to be a rich, rich man…"

As if on cue, they all started laughing at him, especially Aiden.The young girl clutched her side in pain as she tried to stop her laughter.

Harper grinned and walked up to her, hopping up to sit next to her on the bed.

"Oh God, don't do that," she hissed, wiping tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes."Laughing really _really_ hurts right now."

He just smiled at her."Sorry, but you seem to be assuming that I was kidding.Come on, I want to know what's gonna happen."

Aiden grinned at Harper."Well, it's good to see that you haven't changed much, but I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

Harper stared at her, mouth agape."Why not?"

Smiling, she said, "your future self told me to give you a message if you asked about anything like that."

"And what was that?" Trance asked, eager to hear what the girl would say.

"To tell you that you'd just have to try to figure it out for yourself.Of course, it took about three hours of Mom telling him about screwing with fate and timelines and everything to get him even remotely close to agree to saying it."

The group burst into laughter again.Well, everyone except Tyr.Aiden looked up and met his eyes, and as if reading his thoughts, and perhaps she had, said, "a bit surprised that the offspring of these two could ever knock you out?"

He snorted."The words shocked and humiliated come first to mind."

Aiden gave a little smile and gave a mock bow.

"I learn from the best."

Tyr stared her down."And that would be?"

Aiden raised an eyebrow at him."How do you think I knew your moves?You've been training me how to fight since I was first able to stand on my own two feet."

Beka shook her head."I don't buy it," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. You're telling us about a future that can't possibly exist without the Andromeda, and since you killed our ship I just don't see how any of this is possible."

Aiden stared at the blonde woman."You actually thought I killed Rommie?Man, I'm better than I thought."

Dylan looked at her, trying to size up the situation."Are you saying you didn't?"

Aiden shook her head."I didn't kill Rommie, I'd never hurt her.Hell, this ship has been my home my entire life. I'd never do anything to jeopardize that…"

Her eyes shifted from Dylan, to Beka, and back again.

"Look, despite what Gerentex may have told you, I didn't delete Rommie.I copied the program that connected her personality to the network, hid it where Gerentex wouldn't find it, then deleted it off the main network grid."

The entire group fixed its eyes on her.Aiden sighed, realizing that they, with the exception of maybe Harper, had no idea what she was talking about.

"Ok, it's like this," she said, attempting to explain it to them in simpler terms."If you take away the program that makes the personality work, it acts just like you deleted the personality itself.Trust me, she's not gone; she's still in the computers.She just can't touch anything.And don't worry, once I put the program back Rommie will be as good as new."

Harper nodded."So where did you hide the program?"

Aiden grinned and pulled her hair back away from her neck, revealing her neuro-port."In me… the last place Gerentex would ever look.I don't think he even knew that I had a neuro-port…"

She let her hair fall back into place, and looked up at the group again."What happened to Gerentex?Is he…"

Dylan shook his head. "No, he isn't dead.He's locked up in a cell on one of the lower levels.He won't be going anywhere for a while."

Aiden smiled."If he hadn't been such a jerk I might actually feel bad for double-crossing him.I mean, he did help me find you guys, even if he didn't know it at the time."

"Speaking of which," Beka said, crossing her arms in front of her."What are you doing here?"

"Um, well, my grandfather, Trance's father, found out about me and he wasn't really happy about it.So, um, they decided to send me back here to keep me safe."

Beka was the first to ask the question that had been going through everyone's mind, "What do you mean keep you sa-,"

"She means," Trance cut in, wrapping her arm around the girl's shoulders tighter, "that my people don't like the thought of mating with a different species.They look down upon it.They disapprove of it so much that they will try to destroy any child they think is of 'impure' origin."

Aiden nodded."So my father, Harper, sent me back here by sending me through a stable time dilation using his matter transporter, and, well, here I am…"

"There's no such thing as a stable time dilation," Beka said."Time dilations are unstable by nature, you're lucky to still be alive."

Aiden grinned."Luck has nothing to do with it, Beka.My future family has the same memories that you do.They remember me telling them this information; they already knew where each side of the time dilation goes.They know where I enter and exit, for my initial trip anyway, my father already knew that his machine worked before he ever dreamed of trying it on me, he knew I would make it here safe…"

"But they don't know if you'll make the trip back," Dylan said, suddenly concerned for the young girl's safety as though she had been his own child, not someone else's."Do they?"

Aiden shrugged her shoulders."No one can ever know that for sure.You can only be sure of the past, not of the future.They never really told me what happened to me after I went through the time dilation, they just told me that I was to find you, and I did."She yawned, covering her open mouth with her hand.

Trance looked at her future daughter and smiled, stroking her hair back.

"Um, guys," Trance said, looking back up at her friends."I don't think that she's got enough energy to explain any more, she needs her rest."

The others nodded, and murmured their goodnights to the girl, who was already half asleep, leaning against Trance.

The purple girl motioned for Harper to help her, and together they helped their daughter lay back down on the bed, covering her with a light blanket.The girl's eyes were closed before her head even hit the pillow, and Trance and Harper were left alone to marvel at the life that they would one day create together.

End Part VIII


	9. Part IX

Part IX

Authour's Note:

Hey everyone, I'm sorry that it took soooo long for this chapter to come out… you didn't actually think I gave up on it did u? :P

Well, whatever, thanx for all your reviews, they've been a major booster to my self-esteem.

And here's a little more insight into the life of Aiden (I have gotten quite attached to this character) and it's a chapter that most Tyr/Beka fans should like.

Thanx for all your support, please review!

-KiaLee

Part IX

The days passed on the Andromeda, and nobody noticed the budding relationship between Tyr and Beka.Nobody, that is, besides Aiden.

The girl seemed to know exactly what was going on between Beka and Tyr, and it was beginning to unnerve the Nietzchean greatly.Then one day he was just unable to stand her knowing glances at the two, and confronted her about it.

The girl was lying on her back, the top half of her body wedged under the main control junction for the ship.The exact same position that she'd been in when he'd first laid eyes on her.Hopefully the results of this confrontation would be more in his favor than the last had been…

Tyr walked close to the girl, who didn't even bother extracting herself from the hole she had made in the wall.

"Aiden," he said, kneeling down nest to her stretched-out form.

"Hi Tyr," she responded, still not bothering to give up her work long enough to look at him.

"Aiden," he said again, hoping to grasp her attention for more than a second this time.

"I'm still here Tyr, it's kinda difficult to go very far when you're in a wall."

Tyr grinned in spite of himself.The girl had spirit, he had to give her that.

"I need to speak with you, girl.Now please extract yourself from the wall."

He heard Aiden give a small snort, her small hands curling under the panel above her, and pulling herself out, sliding herself along the floor.

When she was completely out of the wall, she sat up and gave Tyr a mocking salute."Yes sir, sergeant Anasazi, sir!"

Tyr tried to hold back his smile, but the girl's good nature got the best of him.The grin slipped into her view for a second, before he was able to wipe it from his face, as though it had never been there at all.

Aiden arched an eyebrow at him, a silent invitation for him to continue with what he had sought her out for.Tyr took a deep breath and began the only way he knew how…

"You really should mind your own business girl."

She laughed."You came all the way down here, dragged me away from my very important work of fixing the ship, just to tell me to mind my own business?God Tyr!You can come up with a better reason to talk to me than to tell me that."

"Okay," he said, leaning closer to her in his crouch."How did you know about Beka and I?"

She raised her eyebrows."That's what this is about?" she asked, dumbfounded."Okay Tyr, that little piece of information, the fact that you and Beka are together well, it kinda comes with the territory of being from the future."

He stared into the girl's eyes, amazed."You knew about Beka and I before you even got here?"

"Well yeah," she said, grinning."I was actually starting to get worried that you two weren't together yet, I mean, if you weren't together in the next couple of months…"

His eyes narrowed as the girl trailed off."What do you mean 'if we weren't together in the next couple of months'?What are you talking about?"

Aiden tried to force back a grin, running her fingers through her long hair.

"Tyr, in less than a year from now, if I've got the dates right, Beka's gonna have your baby…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dylan stood on the Command Deck, talking to Aiden over the communications system that she and Harper had fixed over the last few days.

"Do you think that you'll be able to reinstall Rommie's personality program now?" he called into the air.

"You got it, Dylan." Aiden's voice called back."I just need Harper's help to get into the network.Don't worry though; I should have her up and running by the end of the day.Aiden out."

Dylan sighed with relief.Not having Rommie near him had been a living hell for him the last few weeks.He mentally scolded himself for never truly appreciating what he'd had, until it had been taken away from him.Rommie was no longer just a machine to him, despite the fact that that was all she was supposed to be, allowed to be.

Those rules didn't matter any more, not to him.For the first time in his life, he wanted to go against his protocol and training, and just give into his feelings for Rommie.

Nothing else mattered anymore…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So what does 'Aiden' mean, anyway?" Harper asked her as they sat in the small corridor inside Andromeda's walls, preparing for her to fix Rommie's personality program.

The girl looked up at her father.

"It means 'sapphire' in mom's language," she said, and then smiled."Well, it does when she dumbed it down enough for you to pronounce it, anyway."

"Hey!" he said, defensively, but his smirk showed through.

"And as a human name, it means 'little fire'.I guess you guys always knew I'd be trouble…"

Harper grinned."Well, you had to take after me somehow, and I guess that's as good a way as any."

Aiden laughed, handing one end of the wire to Harper, who inserted it in the ship's main power grid.

"Mom always told me that you'd never changed, and that you probably never would.I guess she was right."

Harper looked at Aiden, tilting his head to one side.

"You never told us what time you're from, Aiden.Just how far in the future are you from?"

Aiden looked up from her work and smirked at Harper."Is this your twisted way of asking 'how long until you get any action?'" she laughed.

Harper managed to sputter out a weak attempt at denial, but then looked up from his work to see that the girl was grinning mockingly at him.

"Hey!" he sputtered, laughing."Oh God! You really are my kid…"

Aiden smiled."You know it."

"Twenty-two," she said.Harper looked at her, confused.

"What?" he asked, staring at her with a confused look on his face.

"Twenty-two years.I'm from twenty-two years in the future."

A large grin suddenly passed across his face."So not a long wait for Harper getting some action then."

Aiden took one look at Harper, at the smile on his face, and instantly burst out laughing.

When she finally stopped laughing and was able to catch her breath, Aiden remembered what they were here to do.

Still smiling, she leaned back against the wall, reaching behind her neck and pulling her long hair back, revealing the neuro-port.

Holding her hair away with her right hand and clutching the plug in her left, she gave a small smirk.

"Well, wish me luck," she muttered, plunging the end of the plug into the port.Her eyes started twitching, then closed automatically as she collapsed back against the wall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beka had been walking around the ship, looking for Tyr, but the large Nietzchean was nowhere to be found.

The blonde woman was beginning to lose hope in her search, and walked into the hydroponics garden.She had entered with the hopes of finding Trance, and asking the young purple girl if she knew where Tyr was, but what she found made her forget that plan entirely.

There, sitting under the large oak tree, was Tyr.He was staring into the flowing water of the stream that lay before him, completely oblivious to anything else.

Beka slowly walked closer to him, a little concerned.Usually Tyr was so aware of everything around him, and he had yet to even notice her presence.He suddenly stiffened, his gaze darting from the water to her face as she neared him, then relaxed, nodding softly in a silent greeting.

She came to a stop beside him, crouching down so that she was closer to his eye level.

"I've been looking for you," she said softly, meeting his dark eyes with hers.

He held her gaze."You've found me."

Beka's brow furrowed as she studied his face.Something wasn't right…

"Why were you hiding out here?" she asked, then, seeing him bristle, suddenly realized that she could have chosen a better wording for her question.

"I wasn't hiding," he snapped, his gaze shifting back to the stream that flowed before him.

"I was thinking."

Starting to lose her balance, Beka pulled herself down into a sitting position, facing him.

"About what?" she asked, then was suddenly unsure as to whether she wanted that question answered.He'd been avoiding her all day, and now he was acting so distant… she was afraid that he'd started having second thoughts about them being together.

His eyes lifted and met hers.

"About the future."

Beka sighed."You've been talking to Aiden, haven't you?"

He nodded, continuing to hold her gaze.

"What did she say?" Beka asked softly, trying to hide the slight tremor in her voice.She tore her eyes away from Tyr's, staring at the ground, suddenly afraid to meet his gaze.

She hadn't realized just how close she was to Tyr until she felt the back of his fingers touch her cheek.

His hands themselves were rough, calloused from all the lifting and training he did, but they had gentleness within them that she had not expected.He stroked her cheek softly, letting his hand slowly slide down until her fingertips rested at her chin.

Lifting her chin with those gentle fingertips, he forced her to look at him.The gaze he fixed upon her face was so tender, that she found herself unable to look away.

"Apparently, the girl knows about us, she always has.She knew that we would be together even before we _were together."_

Beka leaned the side of her face into his soft touch, and he opened his hand, cupping her cheek.

"How is that possible?" she asked, internally chiding herself for acting like a lovesick teenager whenever Tyr touched her.

She didn't like the way she acted when she was around him.She was so used to being the strong one, the one who always had control over her emotions… but whenever Tyr so much as touched her, all her resolve melted.Every time he was near her, she would lose a little more of her self control over the emotional barriers that she had been building around herself for years.

It was only a matter of time before those barriers crumbled down around her feet… and he seemed to know it.

As though he'd been reading her mind, he sent out another strong attack against her ever-weakening barriers.Before she knew what was happening, he cupped her face fully with both of his large hands, and brushed his lips against hers.

Beka sighed and leaned into his kiss, bringing her hand to rest on his neck, pulling him closer.

If there was one thing about Tyr that could be described as soft, it was his lips.They were soft and warm, pressing against hers urgently.

Beka felt his hand move back from her face, burying his fingers in her hair.

After a moment she felt his lips leave hers, and she opened her eyes to see his eyes gazing at her face.

"The girl told me about the future—our future."

Beka stared up into his eyes."What do you mean _our future?"_

Tyr leaned over and kissed her softly once more, then pulled back again.His arms moved down to around her shoulders and waist, holding her close.

"I mean that, in the future, the time Aiden came from, we're together.She says that we've been together since before she was born."

Beka looked up into his eyes, unable to find her voice.

"She told me many things about her time, about Dylan's NewCommonwealth, about Rev's adoption of wayward children in his attempts to make amends.She told me about Trance and Harper, and about my new pride… my wives, my children… and _our children…"_

Beka gazed at him, her eyes searching his face, trying with all her might to grasp the things he told her.

When she was finally able to speak again, she reached up and traced his strong jaw with her fingertips.

"Tell me what she said…"

End Part IX


End file.
